"comunidad del valle." and welcome to i'm damian trujillo, and today, a local artist, plus an educator who's getting the job done, on your "comunidad del valle." male announcer: nbc bay area presents "comunidad del valle" with damian trujillo. damian: we begin today with the health of our children. dennis acha is with the department of public health in santa clara county. he's with us here on "comunidad del valle." welcome to the show. dennis acha: thank you very much. damian: so, tell us, first of all, before i ask you some of my specific questions, what are you here to announce or what do you want to spread the word about? dennis: i'm here specifically to alert families with children that if they are denied for coverage from medi-cal and covered california that it's not too late. there are additional options, county options, that they could sign up for to obtain the healthcare services.

damian: what is the fear? is the fear that these families might feel, "well, i don't qualify for that," or "i'm not getting medi-cal. i'm just gonna forgo any health coverage or any type of, you know, visits to the doctor, or the clinic, or the eye doctor because i don't have a way to pay for it"? dennis: well, there are always fears related costs and even immigration status. however, i'm here to promote that we have two county coverage programs that don't look at immigration status. they actually offer full services, access to a primary care physician, access to specialists, hospital services, medication, and all that included. damian: so, who qualifies and what do i need to earn, as a family of four maybe, to see if i'm able to get that kind of coverage? dennis: well, first of all, we have to determine whether the families with children, specifically those who have children between 0 and 19 years of age, if any of 'em are denied from medi-cal or covered california. once that is eliminated and they are actually determined to be

ineligible, then they can come to us and sign up for our two coverage programs for their children, either healthy kids or valley kids. they have to be county residents, they have to not have private insurance already, and they have to be under 19 years of age. and most importantly, they have to satisfy the income requirements, meaning their income--annual income has to be between 266% and 400% of the federal poverty level. now, for an example--an example, a family of 4, their annual income would have to be between $64,638 and $97,200 in order to qualify for 1 of these 2 coverage programs. damian: so, basically, their safety net--you guys are safety nets. there's two safety nets there in case some families really don't qualify for that state aid. dennis: exactly, that's exactly it, yes, we are there. damian: talk about how vital that aid that you're providing is, given the fact that, i mean, you know,

when a child can't read the chalkboard or maybe is doing bad in school, it's not because they're a bad student, it's because they can't read the chalkboard. i don't think we have chalkboards anymore, but the promethean boards that they have now. i mean, it's a serious issue that goes beyond, you know, this student is failing in a school. well, there might be reasons there that are health-related. dennis: well, without a question, families have problems here and there, and for many situations, there are viable solutions. however, when you're not on top of your health, you probably have the most difficult time concentrating in school. children can't go to school, first of all, 'cause they miss--they're sick, they miss class. so, it's absolutely vital that families seek healthcare coverage for their children, especially if they're not qualified for medi-cal due to being maybe a little over the income limit, or for covered california due to immigration status. so, it's not too late. there are two more options that the county of santa clara is offering. specifically, the santa clara valley health and hospital

system has the patient access department available for families to sign up. damian: you already talked about immigration status. there are a lot of fears in every community. we're gonna talk about that in another segment, but just, the immigration fears. but you're here to put them at ease and say you don't look at that when it comes to the health of your children. dennis: i totally understand, and the fears associated with the current administration, there's no question that many people are wondering what's gonna happen. however, as part of our two county coverage programs and as part of the county, i'm here to assure the families of our community that we will not share any information with the feds, in respect to these coverage programs. damian: all right, there's two safety nets there for you all to look at in case you need some health coverage in santa clara county. we're gonna show you the web address there is the web address for the county department of public health. also, a main phone number that you can call for more information about how maybe you can get some help or get help for someone. thank you so much for the work that you're doing. dennis: you're welcome.

damian: all right, thank you, dennis. and up next here on "comunidad del valle," an educator making strides. stay with us.

gloria hernandez-goff is a superintendent of the ravenswood school district in east palo alto, and marco duarte is a parent also with four children in that school district. so, welcome to the show. gloria hernandez-goff: thank you. damian: now, we talked about--let's talk first about technology, because we all know the importance of technology. our kids are being raised with technology in their hands. talk about the state of your school district there in east palo alto. we do have some pictures that y'all sent us of some of these kids using that technology. where are you at with giving these children the access. gloria: well, i think people would be surprised and amazed to know that in ravenswood, we are the front runners in instituting stem education and implementing a makerspace curriculum into all of our schools that cover preschool to eighth grade, and we were in the forefront here in the silicon valley.

damian: talk about the population. who are you serving there predominantly. gloria: okay, we are a population of about 3,500 students. we are 85% latino, about 8% african-american, pacific islanders is about 7%-8%, and then very little minority of other. damian: okay. marco, talk about your children's education and how you feel gloria and the rest of the administration and staff here is doing at ravenswood. marco duarte: well, so far, i am so thankful that dr. hernandez-goff is in the district, because she's been looking for the best in education for our ravenswood district. and we are so lucky to have her because our children are taking that advantage and engaging the technology, all the new technology.

now that we are in the middle of silicon valley, so everything should be the best for our children. damian: because, i mean, i don't wanna date myself, but back in high school, i was still with a typewriter. what's it like for you as a parent to see your children doing this on the ipads and on the computers, and just knowing so much more than we could ever learn about technology. marco: well, as you know, it's like a newborn child, he's already come with the technology. my daughter which is 14 months old, she can really slide pages, and get videos, and that is amazing, how they are connecting now to technology. damian: a lot of people, when i first started reporting here in the bay area 20 years ago, would look at east palo alto and say, "good luck," because of the population, because of the poverty, because of, you know, maybe the ganas or lack of ganas that people had there. what do you say to those people who would say, "good luck," back then? marco: i say that it's just the--now,

what they are having the sense to the ravenswood district, because now we have very good teachers, very good principals, and we have very good superintendent and assistant superintendent. we are all working together, and me as a parent representative, informing the parents more. and let's say, carrying the voice out to say, "please support your child at home," that teachers and principals will support your child in school. so, we are all working together. and the grade scores for the last year, apparently they were low, but this year, we're working so hard that all the students are getting well support. damian: what is it? does it take butting heads sometimes with maybe the school board, whoever is running things? i mean, i know that there's gotta be collaboration, but sometimes you have to butt heads and say, "i really need this equipment for my kids,

and you have to get it for me." what is it taking there? gloria: primarily, it takes resources. we were in a budget slump through the state of california, so our income went very low, and being the little hub of poverty in the silicon valley, we are very dependent on state and federal funding. so, there was a severe lack of resources when i came on board, and one of our big challenges was even getting computers so that our students could take the test. third through eighth graders have to have an online assessment, and-- damian: you have no computers to-- gloria: we didn't have the computers and we didn't have access in all classrooms. we had pockets of access. so, last year was the first year that we were able to purchase computers so that we have a one-to-one from third through eighth grade. unfortunately, we didn't get them until right before testing time, so our students didn't get enough opportunity

to become very familiar. i think, since we've had them now over a year, or about a year, we will be able to really demonstrate what our students can accomplish. damian: should that be standard for every child in this state? gloria: it absolutely needs to be. i'm very surprised that, as part of the williams mandate for instructional materials, that they make computer technology access optional. it should be mandatory for every district, because that's where we're going. and not only do we have the achievement gap that is based on english learners and racial, you know, demographics, like latino and african-american students lag behind with the achievement gap due to socioeconomic status, but on top of that, we have the digital divide. and that, again, is affected extremely by socioeconomic status.

so, you know, our kids are taking the same test without having--the same tools. they have the same measurement without having the same foundational base. and in many ways, that is--it is unfair. damian: and then you wonder. and then you wonder why we're performing the way we are sometimes. but anyway, a lot of things happening at the ravenswood school district. there is the number to call for more information. we'll be back and talk about a couple of more topics there at ravenswood. stay with us.

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ravenswood school district in east palo alto. and marco, how difficult is it for the children who grew up there in east palo alto to look on the other side of highway 101 and say, "wow, why can't i live on that side of the highway?" marco: well, it's a money problem, because there is wealthy people and poor people.

but there is a--program that is helping some of the students to get transferred to the wealthy side--considered wealthy side. those are good schools. but you know, it's not to run away from the problem. we are working in solving problems. so, we want to say that we have the best opportunity to stand up and say, "well, we have all the programs, all the tools we need. now what do we do? well, let's work with this and fix it." damian: and i would imagine that none of your kids make any excuses. i mean, they're there, and they open up their books, or they open up the laptops when they have them, and it's time to get to work. gloria: right, we absolutely are not about excuses, and that goes from our principals, site administrators, our teachers, our peer-professionals. we are a community and we have really been working on

developing a team approach to problem solving and working together, and bringing on all our parents so that we all have the same goals in mind and same strategies, because that's how we can move our kids forward. damian: how important is it to see this, to see you standing shoulder-to-shoulder, or sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, with the parent leaders there at ravenswood? gloria: to me, it's extremely important. i come from a--i was a community organizer for a few years, and i really strongly believe that the only way we're going to transform and reform or reconstruct our education system is in partnership with the parents. parents have a lot of power that many times they're not aware of. and being the children's first teacher and the most important influence in a child's life, we could not move forward without them. so, it's completely foundational. damian: i did a report here with the local superintendent

who was having to make home visits during the holidays because there is that--we talked about deportation. there was a deportation fear. put your families at ease, if you would. what do you do when they're-- gloria: well, one of the things that i'm doing is i have sent a letter to the mayor of east palo alto, requesting that they reiterate that east palo alto is a sanctuary city, that our community is safe, that our parents, and our families, and our children are safe, and that we will not--no matter what happens with the new administration in--you know, with our new president-elect, that we are going to stand by our families and we will not be moved in terms of anything that has to do with divulging confidential information on families' or students' residential immigrant status or citizenship status. and we're already there, but i think that we have many,

many new members of our community who don't know that east palo alto is a sanctuary city. and i'm also gonna be sending that same letter to the city of menlo park. our district goes into menlo park as well. so, our families need to be safe. i'm very, very proud of our state government. california has stood up and said that, as a philosophy, as a matter of core values, that we will stand up for all of our residents and all of the people that live here, and i think we need to do that and follow through on down the line. damian: well, very good. marco, my wife and i are both college educated, but my kids--our kids want to surpass what we've accomplished. talk about maybe what your kids--what their aspirations are and maybe how proud that makes you feel. marco: well, yeah. my older son, noel, he's dreaming to be a civil engineer. and he said, "dad, can i go to stanford university?"

and i said, "sure, you can. there must be a way that you can go there, but that's not the only university that you can go in. there is uc berkeley, or--" damian: there's options. marco: "there are many options, but whatever you want to be in life, you can do it. but you need to ask. you need to get prepared and dream on it." damian: that's a lot of pride, right? marco: yeah, it is. it is, and, as a father, i've been learning a lot by being involved in this school, because we know that if we don't get informed, we don't know how to support our students. damian: can we clone him as a parent and maybe shop him around? gloria: you know what? he's wonderful for our parents, and we are doing a lot of outreach. and you know, you're talking about home visits. we do a lot of trainings and we actually call--make personal phone calls and contacts to families and parents to bring them on board, and mr. duarte is our--he's our leader.

he's wonderful. damian: well, if you'd like more information, great things at the ravenswood school district, there is the number to call for more information. thank you so much for the work that you're doing. gloria: thank you. damian: and up next here on "comunidad del valle," a local artist, sam rodriguez. stay with us.

in some very high places. sam rodriguez is my guest here on "comunidad del valle." welcome to the show. sam rodriguez: thank you for having me. damian: we're talking about linkedin, google, puma, and samsung. what does it say to get your work into places like that? aside from skill, of course. sam: yeah, a lot takes skill, but it also takes a lot of, you know, meeting people in person and just building a portfolio, you know? i have been working at it for well over a decade, but the last few years has finally been well enough to where it's become a full-time career. before that, i was working a lot of odd jobs, you know, and trying to pay myself through school,

and also, you know, raise my daughter. damian: that's tough. well, let's go through a quick slideshow and kind of describe what we're gonna see here. tell us what this is. sam: so, what you're looking at are handprints that were made by the employees of samsung, and we did a project there recently for their lobby area. and it was partially, you know, something that they could just be proud of in their lobby area that people can see that represents their company, but it was also a human resource project. so, they wanted, you know, to metaphorically show how employees have a hand in making the company what it is. and so, it was one of the people in human resources who came up with the idea, "let's do handprints." and at first, i was like, "how am i gonna make this work, you know, and make this look, i guess you could say, sophisticated," you know? because it's like a kindergarten project or something, you know? so, i wasn't--i'm not an educator, so i don't know. and so, i was like, well, maybe--

damian: that's step one of art. sam: exactly. well, that's step one of collaboration, you know? collaboration sometimes will shape the project and bring it to places that you wouldn't have done so yourself, and i think it makes the work stronger. damian: do you have to--when you're trying to do something for samsung, 'cause that's where your latest work is right now, right, at samsung? right up the street here from nbc bay area. when you're talking to them, is it, like, an interview? 'cause you have to get--you have to envision what exactly they want. sam: right. yeah, it is. it's a lot of back and forth. it's a long process. for this one, it took a couple years because they were moving into a new building, and a lot of time, you know, passed of them, you know, like, trying to figure out the logistics of moving into the new space. and once enough time passed and they were ready, then there was a lot of back and forth between different stakeholders within their company of what they wanted. and a lot of it is also based on my portfolio. so, they hired me knowing that i do a certain style, and so, you know, they'll ask me to approach the project in the

same way i approach a lot of them. but they do--you know, a lot of people will have, like, a list of things that they want done, right? so, this one was, like i had mentioned before, sort of a human resource project as well. so, it was very important that employees got involved into the project. damian: and i snagged this next one, we saw a little bit of it, from your website. this is steph curry's mvp. talk about what this is. sam: oh, so that was--i'm really grateful i got the opportunity to do a couple projects with under armour clothing. and they hired me to do some stuff for some steph curry campaigns they had. and, you know, as you know, they do his shoe. they have his shoe, it's called the 3c. damian: my son reminds me every day, trust me. sam: oh, is that right? yeah. so, it was an amazing opportunity. i mean, he's an inspiring person, so you know, it's probably something i would've done on my own. and so, you know, it's one of those projects that was really fun. and yeah, they made a couple of different t-shirt designs to

accompany the shoe release. damian: and there's the hip hop also clip right after this one, just in memory of? sam: yes. damian: okay. what is it with art? does your clock have to tick a little bit differently than normal people? because i mean, it takes creativity, and i don't have, you know, 1 ounce of the talent that you have when it comes to that. but it takes something special, right, to envision it and to-- sam: from my own personal experience, i think that--i think it's more resourcefulness than creativity. i learned that from my grandparents. i grew up going to sell at the flea markets with them, and they would take stuff that people would just throw away and make it sellable, you know? and so, it's being resourceful, and i learned a lot of that from them. and i think that's what it takes, you know, to be creative. i think it's rooted in being resourceful. damian: that's great.

we talked a little bit about the samsung and the linkedins, but you haven't forgotten about the local public libraries, right? sam: well, no, i mean, there's the office of cultural affairs in san jose, and other, you know, parts, in los angeles and other places. and you know, they're always looking to do permanent public art projects in their institutions and on their public transportation. and so, those also provide lucrative, you know, opportunities for artists like myself. you know, a lot of us are just independent contractors, you know, like some of these tech workers. and so, you know, you have to know--you have to be talented, but you also have to be business savvy, and you have to know how to manage a project, manage a budget, you know, like, delegate tasks to the right people. because i'm not a construction person, you know? i can't install, like, you know, massive pieces of tile into a bus stop or something. damian: so, i gotta ask you this. with your contract with samsung, what'd you do with the $1 million--invested? sam: oh, i wish. i wish, yeah. no, i mean, you know, it's definitely,

you know, it's good, but it gets spread really thin when you're living here in this valley. damian: you have to do a lot of different projects, yeah. well, thanks so much. let's show your information. if anybody wants to get ahold of sam, there is the web address for more information. log on, some good stuff in there. thank you so much, good luck. all right. and now, here's what's happening in your comunidad on "que pasa." [music] [music] [music] damian: and our saludos for those celebrating a special day. felicidades.

[music] damian: happy birthday lupe! there is the web address. you can log on. and also, you can follow me on twitter. my handle is @newsdamian. you can also pick up a copy of "el observador" newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies all across the bay area. you can also watch us 1 hour from now on telemundo canal 48. your "comunidad del valle" in spanish, in espanol. that is 1 hour from now, every sunday at 11 a.m. "comunidad del valle" on telemundo, canal 48. thank you once again for sharing a part of your sunday with us. we will see you again back here next week. pase usted, buenos dias.

you know you're watching televisionol, that's educational and informational. the more you know, on nbc. - today on "naturally, danny seo"... tired of the same old lunch ideas? why eating a rainbow is not only good for you but looks great too. - that was so much fun. - and who says beauty is only skin deep? check out your fridge for the secret ingredients that will help you glow from the inside out. - it's really good. - then got an old pair of jeans or other recyclables lying around? give them a new life with some awesome and easy projects. and have you never met a plant you can't kill? we've got the perfect greens for all you gardeners without green thumbs. all that and more, next, on "naturally, danny seo." - do you want to feel good inside and out? live a healthy, natural, good-for-you life?